Lawmakers and legal experts yesterday called for an investigation into the involvement of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Deputy Secretary-General Alex Tsai (蔡正元) in the case of self-confessed Chinese spy William Wang Liqiang (王立強), saying that Tsai breached the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) by allegedly collaborating with China to interfere in the recent presidential and legislative elections.
New Power Party Chairman Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said he asked the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to initiate an investigation into Tsai, as he believed the evidence showed that China was using its “representative in Taiwan” to meddle in the spy case and influence the outcome of the elections.
The act prohibits people from acting on the instructions of “infiltration sources” or receiving funding from them for illegal lobbying or disrupting elections, “so our judiciary must find out in this case, whether China provided instructions or funding” to Tsai and whether he used threats or money to make Wang recant his story and framed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for it, Hsu said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
DPP legislators Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) and Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) echoed the call, with Lee saying that Tsai appears to have contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法), as well as laws governing elections and referendums.
“Prosecutors only have to find out the role played by Alex Tsai, whether he was acting on behalf of the Chinese government. If so, then he broke the law and this can be prosecuted under the Anti-infiltration Act,” Lee said.
“This case has clear indications of the KMT collaborating with China to work out a deceptive scheme and it tried to falsely accuse the DPP of orchestrating the whole thing,” Wang Ding-yu said in media interviews and on Coco Hot News (辣新聞152), a political affairs program on Formosa TV..
Australian Strategic Policy Institute researcher Alex Joske reported that Tsai worked with Chinese businessman Sun Tianqun (孫天群) to prepare a scripted statement that William Wang Liqiang was requested to read aloud, with Joske presenting screen grabs showing that it was sent out via WeChat and other messaging apps.
According to Joske’s report, Tsai and Sun reportedly said that they represented that KMT and they promised William Wang Liqiang that China would no longer prosecute him and that businesspeople would pay his debts if he recanted the spy claims and followed their instructions.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS